South Florida rappers find success at local strip clubs

Six cops sit in patrol cars outside Diamonds Cabaret, a swank-meets-hood black strip club on the western, industrial edge of North Miami Beach. It's just before midnight, and three security guards stand near the door. The club once had a bad reputation it's trying to outgrow — but the feeling that tonight is going to be a wild night is inescapable.

For starters, it's Miami rapper J.T. Money's birthday, and a bunch of local rappers and producers are expected to attend his bash: Trick Daddy, the Dunk Riders, Grind Mode, Ball Greezy, and a crew from Miami's Poe Boy Records.... full story >>

DISD In the Hole

A greeting, passed along in a coffee shop:

"Hey, I haven't seen you in a long time."

"How are you?"

"Just like you—waiting to see if I'll still have a job."

A long silence followed by a laugh that sticks in the throat and sounds like a last gasp.

Those were two Dallas Independent School District teachers, only days ago. But they do not want their names used. No teacher interviewed for this story wanted his or her name used. They have all heard the stories, some have even lived them, and they are terrified: tales of principals telling... full story >>

America's promise to protect asylum-seekers gets lost in the paperwork

Eleven years ago, Peter arrived in America, desperate for a place to hide.

In his native Uganda, he had been a rebel, a human-rights activist who fought for a multi-party system in a country ruled since 1986 by a one-party regime. Peter, who did not want his real name printed for fear of retribution, had worked to motivate young people to join the opposition Conservative Party. He'd driven people to rallies and tried to educate them about their political rights.

In September 1997, he was driving with his boss, the director of a Ugandan human-rights organization, when... full story >>

Texas Wants Beer!

Oktoberfest in Fredericksburg starts with a free glass of Shiner "Helles," a crisp, golden-colored Czech-style pilsner. When the gates to Fredericksburg's Marktplatz open on this Friday evening at six, more than 100 people get in line in front of the keg stand where Shiner brewmaster Jimmy Mauric and his crew tap the ceremonial first keg of beer. It is all gone inside of 15 minutes.

Shiner has been tapping the first keg at Oktoberfest in Fredericksburg since 2000. The festival's director, Debbie Farquhar-Garner, pays for the keg and invites the public to come and talk to the... full story >>

Monopoly Boy

Marc Conklin gazes out the courtroom's third-story window, at the American flags flapping in the fall breeze. Conklin, the 43-year-old chief administrative officer of the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities, glances down at North Seventh Street to the entrance of the Wyandotte County Courthouse. An hour earlier, a judge unsealed two 57-count indictments alleging that Conklin and Rodney L. Turner, a 68-year-old lawyer, had stolen more than $400,000 from the water and electric company.

Conklin, stout with spiky, graying hair, is minutes away from being fingerprinted and... full story >>

The top 10 most dangerous bike intersections in Minneapolis

Jimmy Nisser just might have been the nicest person in all of St. Louis Park. He had a trimmed mustache and buoyant eyes, and always knew the score to the Twins games. He was the type of guy who cleaned the storm drains on his block, showed up an hour early to church to prepare coffee for groggy parishioners, and never forgot to send a birthday card.

He was also a lifelong cyclist. Born with cerebral palsy and unable to drive, he used his bicycle as his main mode of transportation. On sunny days, he'd wake up and pedal to work at 4 a.m. to prepare for his job at the Minikahda... full story >>

A Mormon Widower Wasn’t Counting on a Murder Rap When He Followed His Late Wife’s Instruction to Marry His Ex-Lover

On September 23, 2001, Faylene Grant wrote a letter to her husband Doug and his ex-girlfriend, Hilary DeWitt.

"I know I will be here with my body until it is buried," the 35-year-old Gilbert mother of four said. "I have held a secret hope and desire for several weeks that I would be able to see you both married, that I could be there!"

Faylene, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, continued, "For some reason, this desire for you to be married immediately and to see you sitting together as husband and wife at my funeral has been so strong . . . I... full story >>

Mavericky!: Alderman and ex-cop John Hoffmann aims to rid Town & Country of dirty rotten four-flushers, varmints and deer

Seated in the office of his modest, 1960s-era ranch home, Town & Country alderman John Hoffmann recounts how earlier this year he exposed the "drug dealer" living down the street.

"This guy moves here eighteen months ago and buys a $1.7 million house on 4.9 acres," Hoffmann begins. "He immediately tries to buy out the houses of the people living around him. When he can't do that, he starts building a wrought-iron fence around his entire property. The neighbors are irate about it. They call me asking for help. I tell them I'll see what I can do."

A former police detective... full story >>